Tender Loving Care

Amy (Kate O’Flynn, Widow's Bay), a child-protection worker, moves back in with her best friend Rosie (Alice Bailey Johnson, Hard Truths, Scoop), a social worker whose daily encounters expose the pressures placed on those who care for others.

Amy’s own breakup brings her closer to her ageing parents, Birdie (Marion Bailey) and Geoff (Paul Jesson), whose tenderness and vulnerability give the film its emotional centre.

Two years after the powerful Hard Truths (CIFF 2024), Mike Leigh returns with a warm but unsentimental drama about care in contemporary London. Leigh’s ensemble is superb: O’Flynn combines guardedness with warmth, while Bailey Johnson brings Rosie an infectious resilience. Bailey and Jesson are especially affecting in the film’s quieter moments, finding humour and poignancy in long-established intimacy. Leigh’s unobtrusive camera, naturalistic dialogue and ensemble blocking create a sense of life unfolding, allowing small gestures, pauses and glances to carry emotional weight.

Tender Loving Care is yet another masterful film in Mike Leigh's wonderful filmography.